Production at Duvel Moortgat in Puurs-Sint-Amands, Belgium, resumed on Thursday after being halted for several days due to a cyber-attack. The attack occurred late on Monday night, prompting the company to cease beer production at its bottling facilities. Ellen Aarts, the communications manager, explained that automated threat detection systems identified the ransomware, leading to an immediate shutdown of production.
On Thursday, Aarts expressed hope that the brewery’s other sites in Antwerp (De Koninck), Oudenaarde (Liefmans), and Achouffe (Brasserie d'Achouffe) would also resume operations soon. Notably, Duvel Moortgat’s US brewery, Boulevard Brewing in Kansas, appears to have remained unaffected by the attack.
The cyber-attack was claimed by the Stormous Group, a pro-Russian hackers' collective. On Thursday, Duvel Moortgat was listed on Stormous’ leak site, with the group boasting of having stolen 88 gigabytes of data. The gang has given the brewer until March 25 to pay the ransom.
Breweries being targeted by cyber-attacks is not a new occurrence. In June 2020, the Australian Lion Group, a subsidiary of Kirin, faced days of paralysis due to a ransomware attack (inside.beer, 12.6.2020). In November, the Italian Campari Group experienced a similar attack that severely impacted its IT network. Then, in March 2021, the US-Canadian brewing group Molson Coors revealed a "cybersecurity incident" disrupting both operations and beer production. And these are just a few examples. It's likely that many similar incidents go unreported, highlighting the pervasive nature of such threats.
